{"id":9686,"date":"2020-06-30T12:22:11","date_gmt":"2020-06-30T17:22:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/health\/?p=9686"},"modified":"2025-12-09T14:07:43","modified_gmt":"2025-12-09T19:07:43","slug":"why-now-is-the-moment-for-cities-around-the-world-to-act-decisively-on-air-pollution","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/health\/2020\/06\/30\/why-now-is-the-moment-for-cities-around-the-world-to-act-decisively-on-air-pollution\/","title":{"rendered":"Why now is the moment for cities around the world to act decisively on air pollution"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sarah Vogel, Ph.D.<\/em><\/a>,\u00a0<\/em>is Vice President for Health.<\/strong><\/p>\n

This is the second in a series of Global Clean Air blogs on <\/em>COVID-19 and air pollution<\/em><\/a>. EDF scientists and program experts will share data about pollution levels during quarantine from a local and global perspective, and provide recommendations for governments and companies to Rebuild Better.<\/em><\/p>\n

Around the world, we\u2019ve seen dramatic improvement in air quality as a result of the response to COVID-19. While it\u2019s come from an artificial and unwanted brake on the global economy, it\u2019s drawn renewed attention to the devastating impacts of outdoor air pollution.<\/p>\n

As many large cities around the world emerge from lockdown, city authorities need to act decisively to prevent air pollution rebounding and even exceeding pre-COVID-19 levels. That was the conclusion of participants in a \u201cClear Skies to Clean Air\u201d webinar<\/a> I moderated last week by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development World Wildlife Fund and Environmental Defense Fund, in collaboration with the World Bank.<\/p>\n

The improvements in air quality seen during the COVID-19 lockdown have shown individuals and policymakers what is possible and could open the door to reinvigorated efforts to address pollution.<\/p>\n

London and Bogot\u00e1 demonstrate clean recovery strategies<\/strong><\/p>\n

The webinar heard from policymakers on the front lines of addressing air pollution: Shirley Rodrigues, Deputy Mayor of London, with responsibility for environment and energy; and Claudia L\u00f3pez,\u00a0Mayor of Bogot\u00e1, Colombia.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
New COVID-19 air quality\/ transportation measures in London.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Cities need devolved powers if they are to address local air pollution, argued Rodrigues: \u201cWe can\u2019t have a centralised approach \u2026 Citizens deal with their local authorities, mayors know what is needed in their cities. Devolving powers, alongside funding, is absolutely critical so we can push the electrification agenda and the reclamation of roads, so we can avoid a car-based recovery.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

As well as discussing ongoing efforts that London has been making to encourage cycling and walking, Rodrigues also described how the city has been working with EDF to develop \u201chyper-local\u201d air monitoring, which can inform a better understanding of how pollution is disproportionately affecting low-income communities. \u201cUnless you have the data to really understand where the hotspots of pollution and hotspots of inequality [overlap], you can\u2019t target your resources and your efforts.\u201d<\/p>\n

L\u00f3pez explained how Bogot\u00e1 has responded to the pandemic by accelerating existing efforts to encourage low-carbon and cleaner forms of urban transport, such as adding an additional 80 km of cycle lanes to the existing 560 km network and making greater provision for pedestrians.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is not going to be temporary \u2013 we\u2019re going to take advantage of the pandemic to speak more to this agenda for clean and green transportation,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

She also noted the importance of working cooperatively with adjacent local authorities: \u201cWe won\u2019t be able to achieve our goals if surrounding municipalities don\u2019t share our vision and our goals, because air doesn\u2019t recognize administrative boundaries.\u201d Similarly, clean transit systems need to be built at the regional level if they are to be effective, she added.<\/p>\n

Targeted policy interventions by World Bank & EU<\/strong><\/p>\n

Karin Kemper, Global Director, Environment, Natural Resources and Blue Economy Global Practice at the World Bank, catalogued some of the impacts from toxic air: 7 million deaths from air pollution each year; a cost to the global economy of around $5.7 trillion in 2016 alone; a disproportionate effect on the poor; and the exacerbation of susceptibility to COVID-19.<\/p>\n

\u201cFortunately, the evidence shows that there are many actions and measures we can take to improve air quality,\u201d said Rodolfo Lacy, Director for the Environment Directorate at the OECD. The pandemic, he said, \u201chas demonstrated the potential for targeted mitigation efforts to generate rapid and significant improvements, and the accompanying economic benefits in terms of improved health are quite relevant.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added that the OECD has a number of policy recommendations in this area: existing air pollution regulations are enforced; any COVID-19 responses do not worsen air quality issues; road space is reallocated to pedestrians and cyclists; low-emission zones in cities should be expanded; and air quality monitoring networks should be extended and upgraded.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the things about air pollution is that it really lends itself to policy interventions,\u201d Kemper added. In addition to the OECD recommendations, she recommended policies that aim to reduce emissions of black carbon \u2013 which has the added benefit of helping to mitigate climate change \u2013 and the removal of subsidies on fossil fuels, which currently amount to $4.7 trillion each year, or 6.5% of global GDP.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis may be the moment, when fossil fuels are naturally cheap, to repurpose subsidies and use them for other things, such as in the health sector or education,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cFinally, carbon pricing and pollution charges are really important,\u201d she added, noting that the World Bank has been working with Mexico and Colombia to design carbon pricing systems.<\/p>\n

Daniel Calleja Crespo, Director General for Environment for the European Commission spoke about the massive \u201cNext Generation EU\u201d Plan, to ensure the economic recovery from COVID-19 is sustainable, even, inclusive and fair for all member states. To repair and prepare for the next generation, the Commission will issue 30-year bonds totalling 750 billion euros ($842 billion USD), for investing in energy efficiency in buildings and infrastructure, renewable energy development and storage, carbon capture and sequestration, biodiversity and health. He said, \u201cThis plan is based on the \u2018Green Oath,\u2019 which abides by the principle, \u2018do no harm.\u2019 This plan will create resilience and a circular economy for future generations.\u201d<\/p>\n

The new plan goes farther than its previously announced European Green Deal. This growth strategy transforms the EU into a modern, resource-efficient, cleaner and competitive economy where there are no net emissions of greenhouse gases by 2050, economic growth is decoupled from resource use, and no person and no place is left behind.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sarah Vogel, Ph.D.,\u00a0is Vice President for Health. This is the second in a series of Global Clean Air blogs on COVID-19 and air pollution. EDF scientists and program experts will share data about pollution levels during quarantine from a local and global perspective, and provide recommendations for governments and companies to Rebuild Better. Around the …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9413,"featured_media":9694,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[114080,114116,109,39263,56096],"tags":[113967,7972,134],"coauthors":[114101],"class_list":["post-9686","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-air-pollution","category-hyperlocal-mapping","category-international","category-public-health","category-omboira","tag-air-and-covid-19","tag-air-pollution","tag-states"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9686","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9413"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9686"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9686\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13448,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9686\/revisions\/13448"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9694"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9686"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9686"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9686"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=9686"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}